3 Books for Hurricane Season

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Children have both a curiosity and a fear of natural disasters. Growing up in the midwest, tornado drills at my school scared the snot out of me, even though I knew they were just drills. (It was that darn siren sound.) I think that if there had been some decent books around about tornadoes, instead of the paltry, dusty encyclopedia with two grainy photos, or the ONE book in the library that was beyond my reading level at the time, it might have alleviated my fears a little. But then again, that was the era of bad basal readers, non-existent classroom libraries, and no read-alouds after 2nd grade.

My how things have changed!

Now, with Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast, here are three books that make good read aloud additions to a weather unit, or a discussion on hurricanes.

A Storm Called Katrina by Myron Uhlberg

In this fictional book set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Uhlberg manages to balance the enormity of the disaster with a story about one 10-year-old boy, without scaring his audience. There’s much to infer in this book, so older children will understand some of the subtleties of the illustrations and text more so than younger ones. It’s a beautiful, haunting, simple book that moved me.

Hurricane! by David Wiesner

Inspired by childhood memories of a hurricane, Wiesner crafts a vivid picture of a hurricane’s effect on two young brothers’ household. A fallen tree in the neighbor’s yard becomes a trigger for imaginative play, while the author’s message reminds us that even stressful natural disasters can sometimes be fantasy fodder for young children.

Hurricane! by Jonathan London

Yes, there are two books with the same name. I smell an awesome teaching opportunity here to compare/contrast the two books! This book takes places in Puerto Rico, from the perspective of again, two brothers, as they prepare for the coming storm, evacuation, and return to their home. The text and illustrations strikingly convey the dramatic change the weather goes through as the storm approaches. This is a great book for visualization (reading strategy) and “Authors paint a picture in our minds with words” (writing strategy).

These books may just alleviate some fears in your classroom.

Ducking & covering,

The Teacher Geek

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